Once a Rockie, always a Rockie’ auction brings out football legend
PLYMOUTH — While the community showed its support for the Rockie football program on Friday one of its best players showed up to give some support as well.
The annual Rockie football auction on WTCA was a huge success with more than $10,000 being raised for the program through bids on items donated by many local businesses.
“We can’t thank our community enough,” said Plymouth head coach John Barron. “This (auction) has become a community event, led by our team Mom, Darlene Derifield, and a plethora of parents that have been working for the last month to put this all together. There are not enough thank you’s we can give.”
While the auction was in full swing Plymouth head coach John Barron showed up with former All-american running back Pete Buchanan who went on to be a starter at the University of Notre Dame.
Community and teamwork is something that extends back to Buchanan’s playing days in the late ‘70s and early 80s, and not just on the undefeated championship team in 1977.
“We had a lot of good guys in the class ahead of us too,” said Buchanan. “Guys like (Steve) Haas, (Ned) Rudd, (Ted) Gangloff. Guys that were hard workers, who worked hard in the weight room and at practice. We practiced really, really hard. We went at each other. Nobody ever went 95 percent in practice. We worked hard.”
“We learned a lot from those guys ahead of us,” he said. “They had some characters and they obviously had a lot of fun and it just made you want to be a part of that.”
While the emphasis on maximum effort had its promise of rewards, the idea of being a state champion was one that developed on its own.
“I don’t know that there was ever this specific idea of winning a state championship,” said Buchanan. “We went out there to win every game. That was Coach Nixon. There was no reason to be out there if you weren’t going to win. After a while, you start to see maybe we have a chance.”
Buchanan’s time at Plymouth wasn’t spent just on the football field. A three-sport athlete at PHS he won 12 varsity letters in his four years.
“It was a different time. It was the way it was. There wasn’t anything more I wanted to do,” he said. “They wanted good programs they wanted hard-working people. I don’t know that it was expected that you win. It was just the way it was.”
The rewards of his playing days haven’t stopped coming.
“There are 20-30 guys that we all are just really close,” he said. “It’s a lifelong thing. You see them and it isn’t like 30 years ago it’s yesterday.”
“It (athletics) teaches you that you have to work hard for things. Some people things just fall into place and everything works out but you can’t expect that,” he said. “Anything that is worth doing you have to work for. I worked pretty hard for everything I have and I was willing to do it.”
Along with Barron, the auction committee extended their sincere thanks to those who donated items and those who participated in bidding Friday for one of the most successful auctions in the 12-year history of the event.